England have the players to win back cricket's famous Ashes from Australia this year, England paceman Darren Gough said on Friday.
Gough, in Melbourne to play for the World XI against Asia in Monday's tsunami appeal one-dayer at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, conceded winning the Ashes for the first time since 1987 would be difficult.
But the 34-year-old fast bowler, who retired from Test cricket in 2003 after chronic knee problems to become a one-day specialist, believes the current side is the best he has seen in his playing career.
"We've got players now who are not scarred by it (regular defeats by Australia)," Gough told a press conference.
"We've got players now who are all confident and at the top of their game."
Australia won back the Ashes from England in 1989 and haven't lost in seven subsequent series.
Gough warned Australia was the Test cricket benchmark and pointed to his own experience of never having played in a series win over Australia as proof of how confidence can suddenly erode when faced with the world's no. 1 cricket nation.